The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1911. UNHEEDED ADVICE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13520, 31 October 1911, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1911. UNHEEDED ADVICE.

There is a notable increase of evidence as to the existence of at least one very troublesome kind of difficulty in connection with the vast industrial problems, the solution of which is agitating the minds of men of thought and- action in all parts of the civilised world. For many years after trades unionism began to assume the form with which we to-day aro most •familiar it did not reach and .include the great majority of the' workers for wages. And although in recent years there has been a large . growth of the numbers of wage-earnersxicting in combination in all countries, especially where industrialism and education have reached the more advanced stages of development, there are still many who aro not associated with a trade or labour organisation,. Nevertheless, the numerical strength and organisation of these combinations make them powerful factors in the industrial life of every country in which they exist. They have now been in existence and actively operative long enough to have produced men who are entitled by their range of knowledge and experience to be classed as experts in industrialism from the standpoint of the' wage-earners. Many of them are so regarded by employees, employers, and by Ministers responsible for the government of the country. Some of them are Ministers or members of Parliament. In Australia the government of three States, as well as that of the Commonwealth, is in the hands of men who claim to be representatives of the wage workers of Australia. Mr John Burns is a member of the British Cabinet, and there are many Labour members of the British Parliament. The ex-Premier of France was one of the leading Socialists of the Republic and author of the general strike proposition. In Belgium and Italy representatives of the workers have of recent years occupied a foremost place in political life in those countries, while in Germany the Socialist leaders compel respect and wield a powerful influence. The difficulty with which men of this kind now find themselves confronted, possibly to a greater extent and certainly in a more acute degree than others who, though unattached, have proved themselves to be practical and reliable friends of the workers, is that of securing acceptance of their advice and action by many of those in whose interests it is avowedly given or taken. There does not appear to be the least cause for doubt on the part of. the wage workers represented at the Trade Union Congress recently held at Newcastle, England, as to the bona fides of Mr Will Crooks, the Labour M.P. for the great industrial centre of Woolwich. Yet he was censured for introducing to Parliament a Bill designed to stave off strikes and lock-outs for thirty days, to enable employers and employees to exhaust a prescribed course of consultation, conference, and arbitration before resorting to a strike or lock-out. And in to-day’s London cables we find Mr Keir Hardie emphasising the fact that unity was the one thing essential and appealing to the railwayman to trust their leaders to deal with the disappointing report of the Commission and loyally accept the findings, thereby implying a tendency on the part of the aggrieved men to take things into their own hands and act contrary to or without the advice of their leaders. To come hearer home. 4 Sydney cable last, week stated that over 3000 wharf labourers and other workers attended a mass meeting in Sydney in connection with the

strike now in progress there, and a motion, was defeated by a large majority .which recommended the adoption of the suggestion ,of the Hon. W. M. Hughes, Mr Justice Higgins, the president of the Council of the Waterside Workers’ Federation, and others that work should he resumed pending negotiations. These and other examples of disinclination on the part of aggrieved workers to follow the advice of those whom they choose as their own industrial and political officers do not, of course, prove that the great majority of trade unionists, or the wage workers not included in some form of industrial combination, are disposed to decline to he guided by men in whom they have cause to repose confidence. More instances of ready acceptance of the Labour leaders’ advice might be quoted, but that of the termination of the bulk of the recent great strike in England, when the leaders gave the signal to resume work, is sufficient. The point of the cases in which the advice given is not accepted seems to be clearly the evidence they furnish ns to the existence in some quarters of a lack of appreciation of what is practicable and reasonable. And the question raised is how the leaders of the Unions and of the Labour movement generally are going to negotiate what must bo a source of serious concern to them, especially to those of them, like the Federal Ministers, who occupy positions of grave responsibility. The Labour leaders who possess the widest range of economic and industrial knowledge and practical political experience make no secret of their disbelief in strikes and lockouts, or of their firm conviction that the most satisfactory method of sbeuring fair adjustments is that supplied by various processes of arbitration. No matter what they may have said or done in the days of their inexperience, a turn at the responsibilities of Government and representation in Parliament has been enough to convince them that even the most able, willing, and anxious leaders, representatives, officers, and members of industrial combinations have to face the same limitations as those which beset other people. And at present there does not appear to be much that is practicable open to them other than a settling down to the desirable work of assisting the aggrieved to a better understanding of the real position of affairs.